New England named Maye the starter on Wednesday.
Coming off his ACL injury, wide receiver Kendrick Bourne has not shared the huddle much with rookie quarterback Drake Maye. In the instances he has, however, the veteran wideout has been impressed.
“He’s poised. I think he’s really confident, and that’s what I like to see,” Bourne said Wednesday. “When we do walkthroughs and things like that, he sounds confident, feels confident. In the huddle, he seems confident. That’s what we need. He’s our new leader and that’s who we’re following. So I think just confidence is the biggest thing.”
As the New England Patriots now turn to Maye at quarterback entering their Week 6 game against the Houston Texans, Jerod Mayo hopes the rookie can provide his offense, which ranks 31st in the league in points per game, a spark. Mayo specifically pointed towards Maye’s ability to create out of structure due to his athleticism, something Bourne additionally took note of.
“His athleticism is actually impressive. I didn’t think he was that fast. I think his 40 might be faster than mine, which is kind of bad,” Bourne joked. “He’s just impressive what he can do and escape the pocket. I think he has a good pocket presence feel also. Sometimes the line is going to lose, sometimes we’re going to lose at receiver… I think those traits he has will help us.”
Bourne’s return will also help New England’s offense and Maye. After playing 16 snaps in his return to action last week, the receiver’s workload will ramp up again this week. As he gets ready to take the game field now with Maye for the first time, Bourne offered a simple piece of advice to the 22-year old.
“Just play free. Have fun, don’t think, just sling it. Whatever you see is what you believe you saw. So, make the throw. Just have fun with it, don’t be timid,” he shared. “That’s the way I play and I feel like that’s worked for me, just having fun, playing fast, and living with the mistakes. So that’s what I kind of advise him.”
After being drafted in April, Maye’s teammates and coaches have been impressed with his work on and off the field. That has included him playing scout team QB in practice in addition to taking 30 percent of the first team reps — up from the typical five percent a backup quarterback usually receives.
Now in line to make his first career start, the Patriots’ entire organization is ready to see Maye’s game translate to the game field — where they believe his play will help the team get back in the win column this week and moving forward.
“Everybody’s just excited to see what he can do, and just believing in him, helping him be the best he can be,” Bourne said. “I mean, he’s top three [draft pick] for a reason. There’s something there.”